Additive Manufacturing: An Introductory Overview (3 of 4)

This third in a series of four articles continues the first and second ones, published recently, and provides an introductory overview of additive manufacturing technologies.
As mentioned in the first article, ASTM F2792-12a Standard Terminology for Additive Manufacturing Technologies divides the different technologies into seven categories. In the second article, we look at the first two of the seven categories defined in ASTM F-2792-12a:

Categories 3 and 4 (yellow type) will be presented in this article and categories 5 to 7 (grey type) will be presented in the fourth part. For each category, you’ll find a short explanation of the principle, the class of materials used, the names of the main companies selling the machines and what they call the process. The categories are listed in alphabetical order by their French equivalents.

3. Powder Bed Fusion

Laser fusion is an additive manufacturing technology using a high-power ytterbium fiber laser to melt metal powders and shape functional three-dimensional parts.

Materials: Thermoformable plastic powder, sand coated with thermoformable plastic, metal, whether coated with thermoformable plastic or not.

Main Companies and Processes

EBM (Electron Beam Melting)

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GmbH, DMLS ® (Direct Metal Laser Sintering)

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SLS (Selective Laser Sintering), DMS (Direct Metal Sintering)

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4. Material Jetting

Process in which droplets of material are deposited selectively. Process in which droplets of material are deposited selectively.

Main Companies and Processes

(Acquired by Stratasys) – DoD (Drop on Demand)

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(Acquired by Stratasys) – DoD (Drop on Demand)

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(Multijet Modeling; Projet series 3000 to 5000 models)

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(Aerosol models)

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While it leaves room for improvement, this classification has the advantage of clarifying which types of machines share similar technologies. Let’s hope that it makes communication easier among stakeholders.